Review Summary: Three guitars and the right amount of fuzz make this "instru-metal" album stand above a pack of emotionless Neurosis imitators.
ISIS, PELICAN, THE FUC
KING CHAMPS, INSTRUMENTAL, SLUDGY.
The words are bolded and capitalized, and as I read Hematovore's one-sheet bio, I'm probably thinking the same thing you are: "Oh, another PelicaNeurIsis clone". If you hadn't noticed, the latest bandwagon in the Metal realm is the sludgy, brooding Post-Metal/Whatever sound, a burgeoning scene of bands that think they're Neurosis but exhibit no emotional depth whatsoever. The Post/Sludge/Whatever sound is being driven to the ground by a myriad of bands that assume that they're long, meandering chord progressions are anything but tepid and uninspiring.
But now I've gone off course; Hematovore isn't part of this new-wave of mediocrity at all. Hailing from the Alabama Bible Belt, Hematovore bring something interesting to the table. While bands like The Fuc
king Champs take the NWOBHM sound and mix it somewhat jarringly with indie and math rock, Hematovore keep it in the family of metal with their Maiden-esque triple axe attack, though it's not to say you're hearing a Dickenson-less Number of the Beast. If anything, Untitled, released in 2004 (before the annoying "Post" trend caught wind), is the "Neighbour of the Beast", vying for a juxtaposition of eloquent guitar harmonies and polyrhythmic, methodical drumming rather than long winded movements that don't actually go anywhere.
Occasional bouts of technicality are often followed by a driving groove-laden passage (Kamacuras and Spiega), while the use of distorted, mid-paced sections do an excellent job at fuzzing things up. "One Unit, Whole Blood" is a time-signature tailspin that weaves its sound around guitar wizardry that's both intricate and dissonant, while a crushing breakdown midway through the track gut-punches the listener with its bowel-jarring low end.
"Blasting Through the Back Nine" starts off with frantic guitar work until it's quickly interrupted by the sound of a golf-swing before swaying back to frenetic riffing, all of which preludes a quick arpeggio chips the song into utter chaos. After a short stint of blast beating the song hits a smooth, melodic jazz-inspired section before the band enters a powerful groove. After another brief golf-snippet, a familiar arpeggio re-introduces itself before the aforementioned chaotic passage is multiplied, with a strong double kick and three fuzzy guitars going all out.
Variation is commonplace on the album, though it's met with varying degrees of success. While "Blasting Through the Back Nine" uses sound clips and familiar leads to keep the listener on their toes while reminding them it's still the same song, other tracks fall victim to the plight of most instrumental metal in that they're not all too memorable.
Somewhere along the line it becomes a little hard to focus on the album, as every track on Untitled starts to run together, making it hard to distinguish between tracks and to stay on the ball. As a result of this, Untitled doesn't really work as a front-to-back listen, but luckily nearly every track holds it own in a singular setting, so the album works great lumped in on shuffle. And, due to the nature of the music, these guys would fit right in amongst a bevy of different genres, so having "Arachnophilia" come in before "Delivering The Groceries At 138 Beats Per Minute" doesn't sound all too out of place.
While it does suffer from the typical instrumental identity crisis (do I want to be background music, or what?), Untitled deserves recognition for its intriguing take on the genre that's currently riddled with shi
tty imitations. The album is as deep as it is fun, and gets major kudos for being light-hearted and still packing a helluva punch, usually in the same track.
